A Tale of Two Mommies: (Re)Storying Family of Origin Narratives
Publication Date
5-24-2016
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Communication Studies
Keywords
Origin stories, Co-mother family, Normative narrative, Heterosexual love, Biological childbearing
Abstract
This study examined co-mother family of origin stories. Origin stories, representing the formation of a family, are culturally understood within a master narrative of heterosexual love and biological childbearing. Beginnings of co-mother families rupture this dominant, gendered, boy-meets-girl script. Investigating whether or not co-mother stories reify the normative master narrative or if instead their narrations resist and/or possibly transform conventional understandings, analysis identified three co-mother origin story themes: Becoming a Family (1) as Normal, (2) as Negotiation, and (3) as Normalization. Themes differ in terms of depiction of co-mother family formation as congruent with current norms, as something that needs to be made to seem normal (i.e., in need of normalization), or as something between normal and normalization—to be negotiated internally within the couple. Study results are discussed within a broader framework of family coming-together stories.
Publication Statement
Copyright held by author or publisher. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Recommended Citation
Suter, Elizabeth A, et al. “A Tale of Two Mommies: (Re)Storying Family of Origin Narratives.” Journal of Family Communication, vol. 16, no. 4, 2016, pp. 303–317. doi: 10.1080/15267431.2016.1184150.